The Role of Language in the Interaction Between People and Technology: How to Customize the Tone of Voice

Imagine if, instead of this sentence—which is addressed directly to you, uses the informal “you,” and employs everyday words—you were to read a sentence that uses the formal “you,” very formal expressions, and complex terms. Your reaction would be quite different; every syllable would highlight the distance between you and the writer. In some cases, this could even create mistrust or make certain concepts unclear.

Two different ways of expressing oneself can make the same message clear—or obscure. Choosing how to express oneself means applying “tone of voice”—that is , a set of elements, like the cogs in a single machine, that define how a personality, a brand, or an app speaks. And that’s what makes them recognizable.

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How do we interact with technology?

Words give meaning to an experience, guide people in their actions, and create a connection with the speaker. Often, as we quickly scroll through apps and web pages, we fail to consider the importance of interacting with someone—not just something.

Or perhaps it would be better to say that, rather than ignoring it, we are simply not aware of it on a conscious level. On a preconscious level, however, human communication—language, not a specific language—connects us deeply to the experience we are living. In his book *The Man Who Lied to His Laptop: What We Can Learn About Ourselves from Our Machines*, Clifford Nass—a professor at Stanford University and director of the Communication between Humans and Interactive Media Lab—demonstrates that we behave toward computers just as we do toward people: we get angry when something doesn’t work, and we feel joy when we solve a problem. This means that the more technology speaks in a human way, the more we feel it is similar to and close to us:

“When the computer adjusted its personality to match that of the participant, it seemed much more intelligent, helpful, useful, and insightful than when its personality remained mismatched, and participants enjoyed working with it more.”

One word in Nass’s quote is the key to this relationship between people and technology: “personality.” Words are what define and convey it. And while it’s true that every person, brand, or application has its own unchanging personality, it’s also true that this personality can be conveyed with various nuances depending on what is being communicated, the medium, or the context. That’s why “Tone of Voice” isn’t a single concept; rather, within it, we distinguish between “voice” and “tones.”

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The Difference Between Voice and Tones: The Case of "hi"

The voice expresses a personality; it is unique and remains constant. Tones, on the other hand, change because they define the nuances through which this personality is expressed in certain contexts or when conveying specific content.

hi | habit-inspiring platform is a digital coach with a distinct voice that defines its identity: positive, empathetic, and attentive in guiding people toward new habits and knowledge. hi’s tones, on the other hand, are different. They were defined using the Nielsen Norman Group’s scale—the leading authority in research and UX—which identified four primary dimensions within which various tones can be categorized. Using this tool, here are the tones defined for hi:

- Entertainer: enthusiastic, sometimes irreverent, and full of metaphors. He wants to engage and entertain.

- Radio host: friendly, positive, and conversational, using expressions typical of everyday speech but never disrespectful.

- Tutor: informal, close to everyday speech without being comical. Tailored to the user's interests.

- Metro speaker: Focuses on the action and the concrete elements of the message; avoids ironic or colloquial expressions. Informs and guides without rhetorical flourishes.

Keeping these tones in mind allows you to identify the best way to communicate with a specific target audience, creating messages that connect people’s needs to their goals.

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Customizing the Tone of Voice

A client asked us to introduce hi to a group of employees with solid experience in technology and in using the main features of Microsoft Teams. The goal of hi is to guide people in adopting the most advanced features to integrate Teams more fully into their daily work routines.

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What were the target audience’s needs? Extremely clear content, with simple, concise, and direct messages describing the features and their main benefits. Since they already had some experience using Microsoft Teams, they didn’t want messages that would walk them through the process from scratch—as a tutor might—or that would entertain them; instead, they wanted concrete information that would prompt immediate action.

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We realized that among hi’s various voice tones, the “metro speaker” was tailor-made to meet their needs. So what we did was align the content with this tone. Customization isn’t just about meeting a client’s request for communication tailored to their workforce. Above all, it means crafting copy that establishes authentic, human, and effective communication with people—copy that addresses their needs while respecting the product’s identity.

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Tips and nudges—the interactions through which Microsoft Teams communicates with users—have thus taken on a “metro speaker” tone: the messages have become shorter and highlight the steps needed to adopt new or more complex Teams features. This is “matter-of-fact” communication—a term coined by the Nielsen Norman Group—because it is realistic and closely aligned with the user’s actual needs. Tips have a slightly broader structure, as they introduce a feature to the user while highlighting how it fits into their Microsoft Teams learning journey. In nudges, on the other hand, the message is tied to the immediate action the user is taking, as if to say, “Here’s your chance to try out this feature.”  

In both cases, tailoring the tone of voice is not a stylistic exercise, but rather the fulfillment of a real need on the part of a group of people in their relationship with technology.

While working on this project, we drew a circle that starts with hi, reaches the client and their audience, and returns to hi. This circularity represents not only synergy, but above all product design, project design, and— last but not least—the creation of effective communication.

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